Allen Traffic Stop
In your June 1 article about the bill pending in the U.S. Senate that would require the Justice Department to collect racial and ethnic statistics on traffic stops, it is inferred that Marcus Allen was stopped in 1984 while driving his Ferrari simply for being an African American in an expensive car. I was the police officer who detained Allen. The article failed to mention that the Ferrari had license plates on it that belonged on a Pontiac.
Pontiac license plates attached to a (then) $50,000 Ferrari, being driven by a (then) 23-year-old male, regardless of ethnicity, are ample grounds for detention.
DET. STEPHEN WATSON, Los Angeles Police Department
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